HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS

                           HISTORICAL BACKGROUND



From 1946-1974, several agencies of the United States government
conducted or sponsored experiments on human subjects involving
radioactive materials.

The agencies included the Atomic Energy Commission and several
branches of the military services, among others.

Many such experiments resulted in valuable medical advances like
radiation treatments for cancer and the use of isotopes to
accurately diagnose illnesses.

However, the Clinton Administration has questions about whether
subjects of some experiments were treated properly.

There are indications that in some cases:

     (1)  some subjects may not have been notified that they were
participating in an experiment;

     (2)  some subjects may not have given proper informed
consent;

     (3)  certain subjects gave consent, but may not have been
fully informed of potential health consequences of the
experiment;

     (4)  experiments were conducted with disturbing frequency on
subjects from vulnerable populations: poor people, elderly
people, retarded persons, infants, prison inmates, and hospital
patients suffering from terminal conditions; and

     (5)  some experiments served no apparent therapeutic medical
purpose.

Information about these experiments has trickled out over the
years, but the government has never made a true accounting to the
American people about this period of the Cold War.

President Clinton and his Administration are committed to making
government open, honest, and responsive to the American people.

The Clinton Administration has now launched a major effort to
collect and make public all information available about radiation
experiments conducted on human subjects by the government.